Cloud computing news 27/02/2012 – 04/03/2012

27/02/2012

Cloud Security Issues Heighten in RSA Conference 2012

As cloud computing continues to thrive and as more and more enterprises penetrate the cloud, security becomes a further pressing issue. This will be one of the subjects to be impressed on the RSA Conference 2012. A special group was assigned to look into data integrity and cloud data security in the cloud. Another organization, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is to have its third annual summit, which is also expected to tackle the emerging cloud security standards.http://cloudtimes.org/cloud-security-issues-heighten-in-rsa-conference-2012/

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) has released its better practice guides for cloud computing, which warns agencies about the financial, legal and security issues for cloud. Analysts and industry leaders, however, have warned that barriers to cloud computing identified in the reports are holding Australia back.http://www.itworld.com/cloud-computing/252374/how-go-hybrid

29/02/2012

Today at the RSA Conference 2012, Scott Charney, corporate vice president of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, shared his vision for the road ahead as society and computing intersect in an increasingly interconnected world. In a new paper, “Trustworthy Computing (TwC) Next,” Charney encouraged industry and governments to develop more effective privacy principles focused on use and accountability, improve end-to-end reliability of cloud services through increased fault modeling and standards efforts, and adopt more holistic security strategies including improved hygiene and greater attention to detection and containment.http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2012/feb12/02-28MSRSA2012PR.mspx

Microsoft Drives Cloud Innovation in Tourism with the UN World Tourism Organization

01/03/2012

A Self-Healing Security System against Cloud Computing Viruses

Tremendous efforts are being placed by the researchers at the Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design a new security system against cloud computing viruses. Their aim is to create an environment where the computing system will heal by itself just like how it is with viruses inside the human body that are self-limiting and are self-healing. The objective is to design a process that will immediately recognize any cyber-attack and to arrest its destructive action or to disable it at its outset. This way the cloud environment will not have to shut down and recovery is possible in an instant.http://cloudtimes.org/a-self-healing-security-system-against-cloud-computing-viruses/

Cloud computing if used appropriately can clearly define objectives, efficiently implement business strategies and effectively address challenges. All these can be acquired without having to worry too much on cost because cloud computing in its diversity has fair value for what it’s worth.

Cloud computing news summary

This week, Microsoft releases beta of Windows Server 8. It provides a muti-tenant platform for cloud computing, such that virtual networks can be created to allow different business units or customers to share network infrastructure. The day after its release of a Windows 8 consumer preview download, Microsoft is now making available a beta of Windows Server 8. The free download is available to IT Professionals and software developers. Minimum hardware requirements for Server 8 are a 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor, at least 512 MB of memory and 32 GB of disk space.

The Windows Azure Service Management is / has been down worldwide for about 12 hours or more. Customers are reporting that Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform has been experiencing a major meltdown in geographies across the world.

Microsoft Research is showing off publicly more natural-user-interface and Kinect-based projects ahead of the company’s annual TechFest research showcase for employees.

Scientists have a limitless hunger for computing power and storage. That’s why three European agencies — CERN, the force behind the Large Hadron Collider; the European Molecular Biology Laboratory; and the European Space Agency — are cooking up a European science cloud to handle their compute-intensive workloads. The Helix Nebula Science Cloud aims to bring enough firepower to solve very hard problems and deal with tons of data churned out by the second. As an example of the size of the task, CERN alone stores about 15 petabytes of data per year, uses 150,000 CPUs continuously, and writes data at 6 GB per second.

Cloud Computing Services can Expand Enterprise Business Solutions; Cloud computing if used appropriately can clearly define objectives, efficiently implement business strategies and effectively address challenges. All these can be acquired without having to worry too much on cost because cloud computing in its diversity has fair value for what it’s worth. In addition to these features, cloud computing can increase a company’s agility without having the need to build a new infrastructure. The best way though to move towards the cloud, according to IT experts and analysts is to know the applications that will maximize the company’s benefits. This could be the most logical thing to do because cloud computing is definitely here to stay for the long haul. A study conducted last year by PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that 41% of the IT respondents said their companies have already migrated to the cloud through SaaS.

A Self-Healing Security System against Cloud Computing Viruses, Tremendous efforts is being placed by the researchers at the Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design a new security system against cloud computing viruses. Their aim is to create an environment where the computing system will heal by itself just like how it is with viruses inside the human body that are self-limiting and are self-healing. The objective is to design a process that will immediately recognize any cyber-attack and to arrest its destructive action or to disable it at its outset. This way the cloud environment will not have to shut down and recovery is possible in an instant.